"The Ultra DDR
PC-3200 XL Memory has an extremely fast memory timing of 2-2-2-5.
At this default speed, it will outperform most other memory
currently on the market. Now, relax this timing and it can be
overclocked to ridiculously high limits. Speeds up to 285MHz
(570MHz DDR) are possible. Bang for the buck on this product is
through the roof! Watch the Video to find out more..."
~3dGameMan.com

"It’s not uncommon for gamers to
find themselves—and
their keyboards—stretched to the limit these days, thanks to the
increasing number of keystroke commands required to play today’s
PC games. A number of keyboards and devices marketed for gamers
and the unique challenges of PC gaming are available, but
depending on one’s personal preferences and comfort level, aren’t
for everyone. Fortunately,
Saitek, a leader in
high-quality gaming peripherals, has come up with a solution that
is as practical as a conventional keyboard, but also has the added
flexibility of up to 27 programmable keys which should be able to
handle just about any game you can think of—the
Saitek PC Gaming Keyboard."

"...connected to an Ipod, my
listening enjoyment reached new heights of style. Built for
gaming, a boom microphone might have seemed natural, but it would
have made portable listening awkward. The clip on microphone left
the consumer with the choice of where and how to use their
beautiful Siberia headphones. What good would its beauty be if no
one saw it?"

"Illuminated keyboards look amazing.
Plain and simple. I remember when I saw my first Eluminx glowing
in bright blue, it was a keyboard of which Captain Kirk would have
been proud. Since that day there have been many EL and LED
keyboards out there and most are just lighted adaptations of a
basic slim keyboard. Logisys however has added a little pizzazz- a
keyboard that let’s you know when you are receiving a call by
blinking. Remember how cool your first Nokia GSM mobile with a
blinking keypad was? Same thing here, just with a computer
keyboard.!"

"Thermaltake
has a sleek new mid-tower performance case that has an elegant
look and beautiful glossy finish called the Soprano.
The Soprano sport's a curvy front bezel which offers a double
hinged door design that allows the user to open the front bezel in
two ways. The first door allows the user to have instant access to
his or her devices, while the second door opens up for quick and
convenient removal and installation of the drive bay devices."

"I'd say that if you are a desktop
computer owner and wish to clean the hard to reach areas of your
computer from time to time and you're worried that your nice
keyboard may be evolving into an eco system, you could invest some
money to get this tool to help you out. You could also clean your
CRT Monitor Screen real quick with this item without the need of
wetting a cloth, wringing it out and running it where water
shouldn't be present. So I'll say that it is a nice tool to have,
although it isn't a MUST for everyone out there. I believe that
you could use it to clean the insides of a dusty desktop computer,
but please, do not switch it on while doing it!"

" We do not know
what you will need to remove from your computer case or how much
work you will have to do for your mods but we hope that you have
seen here how easy it was to install two very powerful 80mm
radiators, fans and a water level reservoir into this computer
case. All we needed are a few nuts & bolts, screws and two
snippets of thin material for the radiator fixing plates to
complete these mods. "

"For AGP based motherboard owners who
are a little dismayed with all the PCIe attention by chip makers,
nVidia and MSI have addressed your concerns with the
NX6600GT-VTD128. The card was rock solid, and the performance
improvements are light years over MSI's previous nVidia based
mainstream solution."

"Using
your graphics card heavily, will over time, shorten your graphics
card's life, and eventually render your card useless. And if you
just so happen to be an overclocker, and want to squeeze that
extra performance out of your memory, how can you do that if the
BGA memory is already at its maximum heat capacity? Well today we
have the Vantec Iceberq BGA ramsinks, here to solve the memory
issue."

"I
always do this, but only after a run in of benches and gaming
tests. Every graphics card I have owned, I uprate the thermal
paste. The
little 6600GT seemed to have heat issues, so it was a prime
candidate for
this. I was thinking as well, the little PCIe Bridge could be a
good subject
for this too, as it has a heatsink, it must give of heat. So a
nice upgrade
to Arctic Silver 5 was on the cards."

"The Plextor
ConvertX Personal Video Recorder looks great, has a quality TV
tuner, easy to install, lots of software included & it's
affordable. To top it off, it's the world’s first official DivX
certified PVR. This results in longer records without sacrificing
quality which is extremely important. Also, devices such as
Camcorder, VCR, DVD can be quickly connected. Watch the Video to
find out more..." ~3dGameMan.com

"While we give Intel a lot of credit
for the new features, at the same time we're left thinking is that
it? AMD owners have been sitting on similar technologies for
almost two years now. While the names differ, for all intents and
purposes they do the same thing. Basically, Intel hasn't brought
anything new to the table for computing in general. "

"Basically, water cooling produces
better cooling results keeping the noise down. The Alphacool
Xtreme Pro set did a good job because the fans and pump were very
silent. When paired with powerful fan, the performance of the
Alphacool Xtreme Pro set was awesome. The pump is powerful and
with the aid of a voltage stabilizer, the 12V pump was able to
receive 24V directly from the power socket. Besides, it was also
easy to install and very secure thus giving me a piece of mind. If
you are planning to go for a silent water cooling solution, then
the Alphacool should serve you well - provided of course you have
cash to burn because USD310 isn't cheap at all!"Review Link

"As
a hardened PC nut, I have always said a firm no. But all this new
Cell technology has me thinking of the endless possibilities. It
seems that the age old snobbery of the (IBM) Personal Computer has
finally had its day, and at the hands of - IBM.

Did they know? They have
released tonnes of old patents, possibly no longer needed, as they
deemed them out dated! What's next? Is Cell technology just the
start? I suppose a long hard look at the patents released, might
give some indication as to "What they are up to!"

"The Soltek SL-K890Pro-939 proved to
be a solid and high performing board across all our testing and is
a nice entry on Soltek's part for VIA's new PCI Express enabled
K8T890. Overall, we were quite pleased with the motherboard and if
you're looking for an alternative to NVIDIA for your Athlon PCI
Express needs, the Soltek SL-K890Pro-939 is certainly worthy of
consideration."

"This product
boasts great looks, lots of drive bays, toolless design & other
great features. It's all steel with a plastic front which means
it's affordable but a little heavy at 21lbs. There are 4x5.25"
(ext.), 2x3.5" (ext.) & 5x3.5" (int.) drive bays. The toolless
design results in quick & easy installation of cards & drives. Air
circulation is superb due to the included front and rear 120mm
fans & one 90mm fan on the side panel. Watch the Video to find out
more..." ~3dGameMan.com

"Well,
this being our first time around with an HTPC, I wasn’t sure what
to expect. This being one of several times working with
Silverstone, I knew exactly what to expect. What did we get? We
got an extremely well made product, both inside and outside. The
outside maintains Silverstone’s super clean lines, and modern
look, while the inside is very spacious and designed with
simplicity and ease of use in mind."

"In spite of improved visuals, new
monsters and weapons, two new multiplayer modes and a few shining
examples of sheer twisted, evil genius that is downright scary
and impressive,
Painkiller: Battle Out Of Hell
never rises above those
“been-there-done-that”
scenarios that play like cutting room floor outtakes from
Painkiller, or lame-ass
“jump-die-reload-repeat”
puzzles; leaving you with the sad feeling that even for a
twenty-dollar expansion pack, it was capable of delivering so much
more."

"While the Enermax EG701AX-VE-SFMA24P
does not have modular cables, many reputable PSU makers will
probably tell you that ideally, you'll want cables drawn directly
from the PSU to your components for the best reliability. The
EG701AX was just that; a solid and reliable PSU with plenty of
power when you need it."

"So far what we have is a
substance that has heat properties close to that of water, however
is non-conductive! A perfect solution for water cooling
electronics right? Let’s take it into our own test-bed." Review link

02/16/05 X-raypad Thunder9 Review@ PCmoddingmy

"After much observation, comparing
and testing, I concluded that the Thunder 9 is worth the RM 120
price tag. In terms of maintenance and precision, Thunder 9
clearly has stood up to its expectations. I would also recommend
the rough surface BK2 to lower sensitivity users and the BK1 to
the people who love higher sensitivity."

"The Crucial
PC-4000 Ballistix Tracer Memory has a fantastic default speed of
250MHz or 500MHz DDR. At this speed the timings are 2.5-4-4-8,
which is speedy but can be overclocked even higher. This memory is
stable, reliable, & has blistering performance! Let's not forget
the "bling bling" factor; 16 active (8 Red, 8 Green) LEDs & 8 Blue
ground effect LEDs. Watch the Video to find out more..."
~3dGameMan.com

"The Corsair TWIN2X1024-5400C4PRO is
a fantastic piece of hardware. It has plenty of headroom for
overclocking and also large aluminium heatspreaders that helps to
keep the memory cool. It ran perfectly stable at the rated speed
of 675MHz with timings at 4-4-4-12. Moreover, the LEDs that run on
the modules is definitely a head turner as it is pretty bright and
performs as memory usage indicator. Priced at USD335 / RM1273, it
is currently the best bang for your buck!"

"While
the glow is nice, the last thing you want it for it be
overpowering. Well once again Flexiglow have thought of this and
provided a dimmer dial on the USB cable, so not only can you turn
the glow off, you can also choose the intensity of the glow.
Underneath, the LEDs that provide the light (4 of them aimed at
each corner) are covered to help direct the light to the acrylic.
This was a great option for me, because many times, I do not feel
like staringat my hand only to be blinded by the pitch black
contrast of the room illuminated by this radiantled. I have
enought light commin from the box!"

"Unless
you're planning to heavily overclock your ram or system, high
frequency DDR2 kits are a bit of a waste of money considering
their conservative timings. The 4300C3PRO is fully suited for
overclocking, and so long as you stay at around DDR2-667 and
lower, the lower latencies will make a bigger impact on
performance."Review Link

02/13/05 Motherboard roundup @ Arctic
Squad

"The older
Springdale and Canterwood chipsets also gather their fans with the
new Socket T. The older chipset has its pros and every
manufacturer adds their own extras. Which one of the motherboards
performed best, read and see..."Round Up Link

"Mushkin's new 184 pin PC3700 memory
is a high performance kit for motherboards that support dual
channel memory. It features all the extras that consumers have
come to expect from Muskhin, like gold contacts, high quality head
spreaders, and 6-layer PCB. The custom designed heat spreader
reduces the risk of thermal runaway of local hotspots within the
memory core and further increases overclocking margins of the
modules."

"We have started to accumulate a LOT
of extra stuff around the XYZ Computing offices and we need to
make some room for all the new hardware coming in. To do this we
are holding a new giveaway. The prize this time will be a Fill
Port, Maze4 Chipset Cooler, and a Maze4 GPU cooler, all by Danger
Den. All you have to do to enter is join our forums and post a few
times! The contest is just about half over, make sure you join
before its too late."

"We all know that heat is the biggest
concern, next to cutting edge performance, every enthusiast
worries about. With a market swamped with a multitude of heatsinks,
as well as water cooling being readily available to the everyday
consumer, it’s enough to make you head spin in circles. Today we
have the King Kestrel IV entry level heatsink. Made of aluminum
and copper this sink should prove to be a performer. Read the
review to find out more!"

Removing one of the heat
spreaders reveals the bread and butter of low latency memory:
Samsung TCCD chips. These bundles of overclocking joy are rated up
to 250MHz (albeit at more relaxed timings) and can top out well
past that point. An important thing to note is that memory "overclockability"
in general (much like processors) is more or less hit-or-miss.
Samsung's TCCD chips may be rated for 250MHz and the majority of
people who own RAM utilizing these modules can get similar
results, but there's no guarantee other than the specified rating.
In other words, it's entirely possible (though highly unlikely)
that you could end up with a PC3200 HyperX stick that only runs at
PC3200.

"They have a very unique style with
all of their products, and the IR-7220, also known as the Beetle
(for good reason), is no different. The cute little guy comes in
six different colors: black, red, gold, silver, white, and aqua.
These color choices are available on most of the other products,
which seem to be appealing to the customized peripheral market
that still seems vastly untapped. Even the USB hubs come in a
variety of colors. The black model, even if elegant and stylish,
also happens to be the most boring, and was coincidentally the one
we received for review."

"Although the game falls short in
eliminating some of the issues that plagued the earlier games
(unrealistic spawning and high hit points for AI enemies), and
temporarily goes off-course with a less-that-impressive aerial
sortie, frantic and intense firefights with a number of
unforgettable set-piece battles, vastly improved visuals,
competent squadmates that you can command, a new multiplayer mode
with potential, plus the additional bonus features and convenience
of game installation from a single DVD, not only makes
Medal of Honor Pacific Assault Director’s Edition DVD
a good value, but also the best game of the series to date."

"Welcome
to the first preview of an as-yet unreleased game here on LAN
Addict! We are very excited to bring you a sneak peek at what
looks to be one heck of a good game for this Spring! If you enjoy
a little role-playing with your hacking and slashing, hang on to
your seat, because this is going to be quite a ride!"

"The CoolDrive
6 looks fantastic with the control panel and LCD at the front. The
CoolDrive 6 can even monitor 4 temperatures and 3 fans. This is
clearly one of the best enclosures on the market. The CoolDrive
Lite is the basic version of the CoolDrive 6 but still looks
great. HDD installation in both is the same and so is the great
thermal performance. Watch the Video to find out more..."
~3dGameMan.com

"With the growing urge to customize
your computer with the latest and greatest electronics, many
enthusiasts are looking for gadgets that aren't just flashy, but
functional as well. One of the easiest, and most versatile way to
add that little extra flash to your computer is through the
addition of a brand spanking new LCD. No, I'm not talking about
those 500 dollar monitors, I'm talking about the ones that fit
nicely into your 5.25 or 3.75 inch bays and display just about any
information you want them to. Read the review to find out more!"

"The diNovo Cordless Desktop consists
of a keyboard, a "detached media pad" (the number pad), a mouse, a
RF USB dongle, and a mini-receiver desktop stand. Each item has
been meticulously designed to be as sleek, stylish, and light as
possible. From the first touch of a key the the diNovo exudes
quality."

"DFI
was fairly small and quiet back in the early days. It was not
until a year or so ago that people started recognizing the
company. They broke out into the enthusiast community with their
first LANParty motherboard, based on VIA's KT400A chipset. They
quickly continued the LANParty line with Nvidia's nForce2 chipset
and eventually branched into Intel motherboards. The LANParty was
a huge hit, not only because it provided possibly the best
overclocking results on an overall basis, but because the
motherboard offered great voltage options. It was certainly a
huge plus since enthusiasts no longer needed to perform voltage
modifications. The LANParty motherboards were also the first to
provide a stunningly high 3.3v to VDIMM. Everyone, including
myself, jumped on the DFI wagon."

"Throughout all the testing the
Albatron PX925X Pro didn't falter once, and let's face it, if your
motherboard isn't stable, then nothing you do will make the whole
system stable. Standard performance was up there with all the
other 925 based boards we have seen, and even put in a few
impressive memory and content creation scores higher than expected
(nothing you would see except in a benchmark but higher none the
less). "

"The
majority of computer enthusiasts who also happen to have music
collections have, by now, digitized their collections and stored
them on hard drives and drive or flash-based players. But if you
want to take your music on the road, chances are you'll be stuck
with CDs. And that's where the AnyDrive car MP3 player FM
transmitter comes into play. Basically it's a USB-driven radio
that lets you tune your car stereo to a specified station to
listen to music stored on a USB device. It's pretty robust in its
abilities (you can also have it transmit audio to a home audio
system or PC speakers via FM or direct connection), but those
require more accessories."

"Using
a new identical motherboard we found that we could run this
Corsair PC3200 DDR400 DDRmemory at 222 or 444MHz without any
problems. In this case our earlier motherboard was not quite as
good which stopped this Corsair PC3200 DDR400 running at 440MHz"

"Mad
Dog recently opened up a new category called "Techie Toyz". This
category mainly includes products for case modding and
accessories, such as rounded cables, fans, CPU coolers, power
supplies, etc. Today's sample will be their flagship SurePower
power supply. It boasts a whopping 600W of power and is almost
fully modular."

"With
hotter and hotter chips becoming the reality, larger and more
expensive cooling measures are becoming common. Engineers have the
difficult task of finding the right balance of cost, size, and
noise in order to deliver cooling performance. Too much of any one
factor may be bad and be the cause for failure. On top of these
factors, there are also extras that we look for such as
compatibility, ease of install, and sometimes even aesthetics."

"This product
is available in a number of different sizes, ranging all the way
up to a whopping 2GB. With large storage capacities,
affordability, speed & compatibility all in one small package,
it's the perfect device for transporting data. They also are very
durable; this one is even more rugged because of the thick rubber
casing which helps keep data safe. Watch the Video to find out
more..." ~3dGameMan.com

" It's time to interduce Sharkoon's
innovative Silvation case. It contains a couple of new innovations
like a wind tunnel for the processor. The whole inside is designed
differently, so I'm sure this is worth reading.. "

"Q
: Are custom fan grills purely aesthetic in nature? Is it always a
trade-off from looks to air flow performance? Is there such a
thing as having air flow with custom fan grills that one could
achieve levels that stock fan grills can?

A : I finally
get to tackle this one for the sake of the hardcore heat people!
The truth is these grills were never intended for guys who worry
about 1 degree this way or that in case temps. Most cases have
horrible pre-stamped steel/aluminum grills built into the case. My
grills are made for those people to either hide or eliminate those
ugly stampings. Some of our parts probably have the same airflow
as any other stock grills, I could not tell you which. I imagine
we could get tests done to show cavitations patterns on the air
and or flow quantity but I don’t think the average desktop case
needs to be engineered at NASA for home use. Here we have a
division in modding a lot like in cars, your stripped down ¼ mile
guys and the guys who build show car hotrods. I think aesthetics
and functionality are important , but trying to eek out one more
horsepower by removing the back seat is not my bag."

"Do
we really need another introduction of world famous Mushkin?
Good! Then let's get right to the ram. The PC2-4200 CL 3-2-2-8
is some of the fastest DDR2 on the planet with excellent
over-clocking head room. Thanks to the pre-programmed SPD in
eeprom the PC2-4200 CL 3-2-2-8 will auto configure the memory
timings for optimum performance. When Mushkin
advertises this ram at CL 3-2-2-8 then you can bet your system
will boot up at CL 3-2-2-8. We did manage to turn a Pentium 4
550 3.4GHz into a 4.250 GHzCPU… Using the mushkin memory. Let's
take a look a closer look..."

"Leadtek is mainly known for its
excellent video cards, but it's been focusing on other products in
the past years (for example, a Video-Phone device that allowed the
company to enter the video market several years ago and Leadtek's
TV cards are the fruit of years of R&D for its video-phone and
other video-recording systems).
The trend of PVR (Personal Video Recorder) has been pushing
towards creating more advanced tv cards that better suit the
market's demands with features such as advanced hardware video
processing, which the Leadtek
WinFast PVR 2000
we'll be reviewing today is among the first to offer."

" First we
should say that like the other air cooler heatsinks here the
PrimeCooler HyperCool 4+ fan only becomes noisy as such when being
run at full power, but it is not noisy. Dropping down to our 9v
speed makes a lot of difference. "

"We were very pleased with the Flash
Voyager's speed and more importantly, the durabilty. It survived a
free fall onto tiles, a swim in a sink, and a full laundry cycle
without missing a beat. The 10 year warranty is great, but unless
you stick this into your Thanksgiving turkey and cook it, I doubt
you'll ever need to give Corsair's support a call."

"Never heard of ThermalRock? Surely you must know Thermaltake,
though. No one really knows why Thermaltake decided to split off
into a second name, but sure enough both of them are owned by the
same people. This new name can only be good news for us. Why?
We get to see more goodies, of course. With the announcement of
the ThermalRock name, a couple of products have already been
introduced and have become available for sale. Most of their
products are cases, and if they follow Thermaltake's case history,
these cases should offer users plenty of space to work with as
well as great cooling performance."

"LAN Addict and Sunbeam Technologies
are teaming up to give you a chance to win one of three
Sunbeamtech Chameleon case lighting products! All you have to do
is answer a few simple, product-related questions! :-D This
giveaway runs from today, February 7, 2005, until Midnight,
Central Standard Time, February 21, 2005, and is open to anyone,
anywhere, so long as your entry does not violate any local or
international laws."

""When
I'm not watercooling, I'm usually running a Thermalright or Zalman
heatsink. I would always use a Thermalright for benching purposes,
but I would always use the Zalman for everyday purposes. Why? In
case you have been living in another planet, Zalman has been the
pioneer in the production of near silent quality heatsinks. Their
flower series quickly became a fan favorite, as its "flower"
design was both aesthetically appealing and performed well enough
for stock clocks, and their even more popular ZM-80 series VGA-heatpipe"
Read More

02/08/05
Logisys LED Stove Fan Review
@ mikhailtech.com

"The
concept behind the Stove Fan is the mounting of LEDs directly
above the fan blades rather that inside the motor or the frame.
That's right, the LEDs spin with the fan blades. The rated
lifespan is somewhat disappointing: 20,000 hours. This translates
into a little over 2 years of continuous operation which, while
more than enough for most users (over 4 years if you turn off your
computer when you go to sleep), is significantly less than the
50,000 hours of most other fans. LEDs aside, the fan itself is a
bit unusual. It uses 9 straight blades (as opposed to the 3, 5, or
7 curved ones found on other fans) and has a supporting frame on
both sides. Both the frame and blades are transparent to allow for
the light to shine through."

"It
seems to me as though HCT thought of everything when they package
up these headphones. They come with an impressive list of
accessories that includes two optical cables one long and one
short for depending on how you are going to use your headphones,
next of course is the Dolby decoder box/charger that sports 2
headphone inputs so you can use more than one set of headphones at
a time, aside from that it also comes with two rechargeable
batteries and pretty much any kind of audio hookup cable you can
imagine. To make a long story short, no matter what type of input
you have on your audio device HCT has included it in the package."

"This
months giveaway is a collaborative effort, sponsored by
Bonzai-Mods, Xoxide, and CrazyPC!! With the combined efforts of
these 3 great companies, we are able to bring you this huge
giveaway!! This month we will have 13, yes 13 lucky winners, so
get in on the action fast!"

"The Asetek
WaterChill 2 Water Cooling Kit has it all. Included are CPU, GPU
and chipset waterblocks, the pump, a copper radiator w/120mm fan,
and more. Extra goodies include a stylish cap and lanyard. There
is even an optional HDD waterblock available. Exceptional quality,
compatibility, and performance make this a very sought after
product for overclockers and enthusiasts alike. Watch the Video to
find out more..." ~3dGameMan.com

"With many gamers looking for the perfect mousing surface, one
can easily become confused because of the amount of choices
available to
them. With huge pads, small pads, soft pads, hard pads, all
available in
a variety of colors, it es easy to get caught up in all of the
hype and
not know which one to purchase. Today, we have the Func Industries
Surface 1030, a versatile competition mousing surface which
continues to
push the bounds of mousing surface technology! Read the review to
find
out more!"

" We have to say
that we are very pleased indeed with this full tower ThermalRock
Dragon Gaming computer case because it is very well made and a
very modern stylish computer case which we think will go rather
well in any room or office and which is of a decent size being
full tower. To us this Dragon looks rather stunning in with the
blue front panel and LED. "

"The 6800LE series is a lottery prize
for a poor gamer. These cards could be compared to Nvidia's
successful GeForce4 Ti4200 series. The Ti4200's were almost in the
same price category than 6800LE now, and they were clearly cheaper
than the top models. Nevertheless, they used the same technique
than the top models and could be overclocked to the same clocks
than theTi4400s and Ti4600s. The situation is almost the same now
with Geforce 6800LE. The price is about 250? and with a little bit
of luck and skill you can get a card that almost matches a twice
as expensive 6800 Ultra."

"If you are looking to build a
HTPC on the PCIe format, look no further, the RX600 is easy to use
and gives a picture you would be proud of. I only ask that ABIT
either get rid of the silly Turbo jumper or change the color of
the LED (I am soldering on a Blue one as we speak)..."Review link

02/06/05 Spire VertiCool SPA49B0
@ InsaneTek

""Spire
started out way back in 1991 and has slowly been creating cooling
solutions. They have offices located all around the world to
provide many customers with their products. Their cooling division
has a wide variety of products, ranging from AMD coolers to Intel.
Aside from their air cooling, they also offer water cooling to
consumers. My last encounter with Spire's cooling solutions left
me less than impressed. Today we'll be looking at the VertiCool
heatsink. Perhaps a second look at their products will change my
mind."

" 'SL Why?' is an article about
Nvidia's SLI technology which has recently bocome the focus of the
3D market. It explains the basics of these technology and goes
into depth concerning its strengths, and more importantly, its
weaknesses. This technology has been portrayed as the end-all,
be-all of 3D technology by many difference sources; this article
examines the validity of this belief and weighs SLI's advantages
and disadvantages in an insightful and unbiased manner."

"We have started to accumulate a LOT
of extra stuff around the XYZ Computing offices and we need to
make some room for all the new hardware coming in. To do this we
are holding a new giveaway... The prize this time will be a Danger
Den Fill Port, Maze4 Chipset Cooler, and a Maze4 Video Card
Cooler! Its easy to enter and easy to win!"

"In addition to typical cathodes,
LEDs in various forms are finding their way into cases worldwide.
Although more expensive and not as bright overall, LEDs last
longer, use less energy, and produce minimal heat. Because of
their small size, they're also a lot more versatile. Try placing a
foot-long cathode in a modified SFF PC. "Laser LEDs" is a general
term that refers to a cluster of LEDs bunched together in a tiny
enclosure. The name originated from one of the first executions of
this design several years back, and it stuck."

"Various
multimedia keys on the keyboard are nothing new, and in fact you
can find them on most keyboards today, even the simple ones, but
Logitech has decided to integrate these keys into the mouse. Its
true that mice with many buttons aren't uncommon today, and most
mice today come with about 5 such buttons that can be programmed
however you like, but how about 12 buttons?
You'll probably ask yourself why the hell would you (or anyone)
need 12 buttons on your mouse? Well, Logitech didn't simply add
useless buttons to the mouse, but tried to make it into something
slightly different. With the first glance at the name of the mouse
you will notice the word "MediaPlay" and indeed, that is the
general idea behind this mouse - not another simple mouse, but a
mouse that is supposed to be the answer for all the multimedia
needs of your PC, and in fact become a remote control for your
computer, but does it work?"

"The cooler
itself is a bit on the heavier side given that it's a block of
copper. It measures in at 90 x 70 x 40mm, so it's about the same
size as the stock Intel cooler. The clips used for attaching the
heatsinks generally follow Intel's reference design, but with a
twist. The "legs" can bend outward so you can place the fan
fixture on top of the cooler and line up the hooks one by one
without a problem. This is a very versatile and worry-free
approach. The latches on the clips are a little stiff but after a
few bends they loosen up, so no complaint there."

"The unit itself is 4.76" x 3.08" x
0.61" and weighs in at just 5.1 oz. This means that it can fit in
you designer jeans or jacket pocket without difficulty. It uses a
320x480 Transflectiver TFT display which is touch sensitive,
supports over 65,000 colors, and will put your color cell phone to
shame. It is powered by a 416Mhz Intel Xscale processor. The T5
supports MultiMediaCard, SD, and SDIO expansion cards. "

"For a mid range card with 128mb, I
was expecting Doom 3 and Far Cry to require an 800x600 resolution
for acceptable frame rates, but this wasn't the case; all the
games tested ran at 1024x768 with some FSAA and AF without issue,
and in some cases a few even broke into playable at 1280x1024
(albeit without FSAA or AF). "

"Overall, MSI made a pretty decent
graphics card with the RX600XT. I liked the bundled items that
came in the package and the fancy packaging. Nevertheless, the
performance to price ratio of the RX600XT makes it fall behind
Nvidia’s 6600GT offering. Considering that the RX600XT is sold
close to a 6600GT, I would not recommend you to buy a RX600XT.
Besides that, our sample also overclocked fairly well and we did
notice performance increase in benchmarks. So if you’re not into
hardcore gaming and looking for a reasonably good card for your
PCI-E setup, the RX600XT might just be the right card for you."
Review Link

02/05/05 VIA
Weekly chipset @ VIA

Get Into the Action with the New VIA
PT Series Chipsets!

With the recent arrival of many new
technologies and standards on the PC platform, such as PCI
Express, DDR2 memory and LGA775 processors, 2005 will be a
year of transition for system integrators and computer
enthusiasts. Such transitions are never easy, so VIA intends
to smooth the path with the release of the new VIA PT Series
chipsets for the Intel® Pentium® 4 and Celeron™ processor
platform.

With an amazing range of revolutionary
new chipset features, such as support for PCI Express and AGP
graphics, as well as DDR and DDR2 memory, ALL on the same
motherboard, the VIA PT Series of chipsets provide a uniquely
flexible platform for the transition period. Read on to learn
more about these innovative features, such as VIA StepUp
memory technology, Universal Graphics Interface (UGI) and
DualGFX Express.

Bringing a Fresh
Approach to PCI Express

Optimized for the latest Intel®
Pentium® 4 and Celeron™ processors up to 1066MHz FSB, the new
VIA PT Series of chipsets includes the following solutions:

VIA
PT880 Pro Chipset
Targeted at the performance mainstream, the VIA PT880 Pro
chipset is the perfect stepping stone solution for system
integrators and enthusiasts. Featuring the Universal Graphics
Interface (UGI), it is the world’s only chipset to enable true
support for AGP and PCI Express graphics on the same
motherboard. Read more about the VIA PT880 Pro chipset
here.

VIA
PT894 Pro Chipset
Designed for workstations and power users requiring support
for multiple displays, the VIA PT894 Pro chipset features
VIA’s revolutionary DualGFX Express technology, that enables
connection to as many as 4 separate monitors without
compromising system performance. The PT894 Pro also offers
leading edge performance through support for 1066MHz FSB,
Hyper-Threading, PCI Express Graphics, as well as DDR and DDR2
memory. For more on the VIA PT894 Pro,
go here.

Leading IT Media
Sing the Praises of VIA PT Series Chipsets!

You don’t have to take our word for it,
you can read what the world’s most popular IT media are saying
about the VIA PT Series chipsets:

The unit itself is an
oddity. It's basically a 92mm fan encased in a slightly tapered
cylindrical frame. On top is a Thermaltake logo with multi-color
LEDs beneath which steadily change colors every few seconds. Since
both the blades and case are UV reactive, there is also a pair of
small UV LEDs right next to the fan blades. On the back side is a
set of fixed blades which function as part of the frame;
supposedly these also make the fan more efficient.

"Ultra Products was the first to introduce the world's first fully
modular power supply. The power supply was great for case modders,
because it allowed great cable management. Well, OCZ is here
again with a similar approach. OCZ knows that overclockers not
only need the best performance possible but a nice tidy system
too. The solution is the OCZ ModStream. The ModStream caters
less to overclockers but more to the general public and case
modders who want a nice looking system."

"Small size combined with powerfull
suction and work light make this
product very usefull. It doesn't take that much space to store
away and is
instantly ready to be used after you plug it in to an USB port."

"If you are not looking to spend too
much too much money on high end RAM, want to run your FSB at
around 230-260+MHz, and don't have a lot of Vdimm to spare, then
the OCZ PC3700 Gold Rev.3 is what you want. Reasonable price,
great overclockability with great timings, and great looks."

"The
Thermaltake BigWater Water Cooling Kit offers big
bang-for-the-buck! It's easy to install, performs well, looks
great and is affordable. Included is a quiet 120L/Hr Pump,
Radiator w/120mm fan, and a copper CPU waterbock. It also fits all
Intel P4 and AMD motherboards currently on the market. Interested
in watercooling? Check this kit out. Watch the Video to find out
more..." ~3dGameMan.com

"With more cars than you can possibly
race and modify with almost endless possibilities for
customization, a soundtrack with some truly memorable tunes,
improved visuals and an open-ended driving environment with the
most challenging racing ever offered by the series yet,
Need For Speed Underground 2
is a gorgeous, highly-addictive thrill ride that will keep you
coming back for more ."

"The total size of the cooler is
92x114x120 mm which means it is big but since the footprint is
small and the cooler is wider higher up, clearance should not be
an issue. The cooler weighs in at just 488g, barely more than the
maximum recommended weight for our socket 478 processor- this is a
good deal lighter than many other heatpipe-powered CPU coolers of
this size. "

"CaseBuy's EZ Power Supply Tester is
very easy to use and it will tell you if you are getting power on
a rail. Just don't expect it to do any more than that. This little
gadget can save you a lot of time by weeding out dead power
supplies, but you'll want to have a multimeter handy to make sure
that you're getting the right amount of power from your rails
before you use the PSU you're testing."

"3D performance was very good in most of the
games tested. This card can play any current game at 1024*768
without any real problems, especially when overclocked. The
DirectX tests showed that this card can play at 1600*1200 with AA
and ansiotropic filtering in older games such as UT 2004."

"Today we begin
our 6th consecutive monthly giveaway. This time we’re teaming up
with XtracPads again and giving away several performance gaming
accessories with a yet-to-be-released mouse pad among them."

"As modding branches
out and becomes mainstream, many different products and ideas are
thrown into the fray. Recently as of late we have seen such things
as PS1 LCD screens being modified for computers, full size LCD
monitors being integrated into cases, and multifunction LCD units
being integrated into cases from the manufacturer. Today we take a
look at an alternative to the three above, an LCD that fits into a
single 5.25" drive bay."

" Think we can
all agree that the cooling performance of this PrimeCooler
HyperCool III+ cooler heatsink at our low & middle or average heat
test settings is rather impressive and only joining the other air
cooled heatsinks at the much tougher 170 watts test. "

"Hitachi
was in fact the first company to introduce a hard drive with such
capacity. This was quite a breakthrough in the field, since up
until then, such capacity was only found in external drives which
obviously had significantly inferior performance. "

"The SilverStone Temjin 3 Nimitz is
an excellent case, worthy to be SilverStone’s flagship casing.
Design wise, it will appeal to those who like beautiful simple
designs. Being a fully aluminium alloy casing, it is still
bearable (if you add up all the hardware inside) to lug to LAN
parties although it’s a tad large being a full tower."

"Its minimalist design is only
0.8 ounces and a 1/3 of an inch thick. The tiny little brick of a
player looks simply Apple; for it to have come from any other
design team would be impossible. Being a flash based drive unlike
the bigger members of the Ipod family, it is entirely skip proof.
This attribute of course makes it perfect for the aspiring
athlete, biker or runner."Review Link